


i will come on the breath of the wind

by Kittleskittle



Series: Aloy, Nil, and Death [2]
Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Afterlife, Bittersweet, Blood, Character Death, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:35:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23130319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittleskittle/pseuds/Kittleskittle
Summary: Nil meets Aloy at her death.
Relationships: Aloy/Nil (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Series: Aloy, Nil, and Death [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662583
Comments: 15
Kudos: 35





	i will come on the breath of the wind

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings for death and (very very brief mentions of) blood. 
> 
> Also be advised that this is extremely self-indulgent and soft.

When the arrow slams into her chest with a dull thud, Aloy feels many things at once. The sharp agony of metal slicing through skin and bone as the arrowhead burrows deep into her heart, the frustration and disappointment that she had allowed her foe such a massive opening, the cloying fear and panic at the knowledge of her imminent demise. But oddly enough, there's also a potent sense of relief bubbling up in her, as thick and unstoppable as the blood from her wound.

Aloy falls hard on to her side in a patch of wild lilies, her breath already coming short, her vision already dimming around the edges. Her hand is still clutching at the grip of her bow, and she stares unblinkingly at the moonlit, ghostly curl of her rapidly numbing fingers. Distantly, she can hear the crunching of leaves and fresh spring grass as someone comes to her and crouches by her side - her enemy, she supposes, come to gloat over their kill. But when she manages to find the strength to lift her head, a painfully familiar face comes hazily into focus - and suddenly, she can't feel the arrow in her chest anymore.

"Nil," she says, closing her eyes as his hand cups her cheek and the pad of his thumb brushes soothingly over her skin, wiping away the wet glaze of sweat and tears she hasn't realized she's shed. His palm is rough with calluses but so _warm_ , and it's such a stark difference from the last time he touched her that a choked gasp of relief claws its way out of her throat.

"Hello, Aloy," Nil says in that deep, rumbling voice of his, and when she opens her eyes again, the gleam of his beautiful silver eyes gazing down upon her has her heart pounding for him as giddily as it had years before.

"Hi," she breathes, not quite yet willing to believe what she's seeing.

He appears exactly as she remembers, all bright colors and powerful cords of muscle - and he's wonderfully, perfectly _whole_ , with both eyes and no blood or injury marring the expanse of his chest. Delirious laughter escapes her when her eyes catch on the Voice of Our Teeth, unbroken and gleaming in the moonlight. Missing from it are two feathers - but in their place sits a pair of colorful wooden beads.

"I've been waiting for you."

"You have?"

Nil offers her a hand, and she takes it, finding with mild shock that she has the strength to stand.

"Of course," he says with a laugh, as if her confusion is ridiculous, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Why wouldn't I? You eased me into death, so I had to return the favor. I'm only sorry that my debt had to be repaid so soon."

"What is this?" She glances around, perplexed - nothing looks or feels different, but perhaps she had too been distracted by battle to take in her surroundings. "Is this real? Are you?"

Nil shrugs loosely, with that easy roll of his shoulders. "I feel real. Does it matter, though? I'm here, and so are you."

"So I guess I'm dead, then?" she asks, her voice quavering - although, the thought of death doesn't fill her with as much hopeless dread as it had minutes earlier. There's only a strange, distant pang of loss, and a building swell of wonderment and curiosity.

"Yes, yes. You don't need me to tell you the obvious," he says, waving her off. His expression grows serious, and he reaches out to take her hands in his own.

"If there's anything I wished you had known before I slipped away, it was that I didn't want to leave you. I fought with everything I had to escape from the pull of my fate, but by the time you found me I knew I was too far gone. There was no use giving you false hope, and...I'm sorry, Aloy."

"Please, don't apologize," she says softly. A lump catches in her throat as she clutches at his hands, terrified, despite his reassurances, that this isn't real, that she'll soon stir from slumber and find only empty air in her grasp.

"I won't _ever_ leave your side again," Nil says, so fiercely and with such unwavering resolve that Aloy can't help but throw her arms around him in the embrace she has always longed to give him - truthfully, she's not sure she'll be able to go without touching him in some way ever again.

His voice is hesitant as he softly adds, "Unless you want me to, that is."

"How could you think I'd want to send you away?" Aloy asks throatily, her hold on him tightening. "I've missed you, Nil. So much. It was almost more than I could bear sometimes."

"I know." When he folds her against the steady anchor of his broad chest, she lets out a dry sob. "But there was no need for that, huntress. I've been with you this entire time. If I couldn't follow you in life, I made sure to in death."

"I never got to tell you I love you," she whispers, burying her face into the nook beneath his chin. The achingly familiar scent of spice and earth and metal washes over her, and she greedily breathes him in - Aloy can't believe she had forgotten just how good he smells. Her nose presses against his pulse point, where his heart beats steadily and, ironically, with so much life. "There are so many things I never got to say to you."

He draws away from her, just a little bit, and cradles her head between his hands. That lazy grin she has only seen glimpses of in restless dreams is lighting up his face, and Aloy answers it with a brilliant smile of her own - her first in so long. When he leans over and kisses her, his lips a sighing caress over her own, Aloy decides that it isn't of much importance anymore if this is true or some sort of death-induced hallucination, a final comfort to soothe her dying brain. All that matters is that, in the end, Nil came for her.

"And now, you have all the time in the world to say them," he says as they part, and he intertwines their fingers. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." There's no hesitation in her voice. Aloy supposes she ought to be at least a little apprehensive - but whatever it is that lies ahead, she knows she won't be facing it alone. After the long, miserable years of solitude, she can't help but eagerly look forward to an eternity - even an unknown one - together with him.

"That's my girl," he says with a soft chuckle, and he brings up their joined hands to place a gentle, lingering kiss on her knuckles.

Nil leads Aloy away from a moon-soaked grove of flowering dogwood, away from the angry splashes of blood and the broken form of her body, and they melt together into the dark embrace of the brush, laughter ringing out in their wake.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't do sad endings. I can't, so that's where this came from, and idc that it's cheesy af. Of course I had to do a (quick) drawing for it too.
> 
> Title is from this verse of Yankee Bayonet by the Decemberists:
> 
> _"And oh, my love,  
>  Though our bodies may be parted  
> Though our skin may not touch skin  
> Look for me with the sun-bright sparrow  
> I will come on the breath of the wind."_


End file.
